SANA, Yemen - Yemeni forces, reportedly backed by U.S. drone strikes, hit al-Qaida militants for a second-straight day Monday in what Yemeni officials said was an assault on a major base of the terror group hidden in the remote southern mountains. The government said 55 militants were killed.
The sprawling base was a rare instance of a permanent infrastructure set up by al-Qaida’s branch in the country, Yemeni security officials said. It includes a training ground, storehouses for weapons and food, and vehicles used by the group to launch attacks, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release details.
The assault appeared to be a significant escalation in the U.S. and Yemeni campaign against al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. The U.S. has been striking al-Qaida positions in the country heavily the past two years, trying to cripple the group after it was driven out of several southern cities it took over in 2011.
But the group has proved highly resilient, spreading around the country and working from mountain areas.
The base is in a remote mountain valley called Wadi al-Khayala in the rugged Mahfad region at the border between Abyan and the neighboring provinces of Shabwa and al-Bayda.
The first strikes came Sunday in an assault that a high-level government security committee said was an attack on training grounds for the group.
The Yemeni Interior Ministry said the assault lasted several hours. Yemeni officials and tribal leaders said new strikes, believed to include U.S. drone hits, came Monday. Another airstrike Saturday in al-Bayda killed at least nine militants.
The ministry said in a statement Monday that the strikes the day before had killed at least 55 militants, including three prominent figures. It identified the three as Mohammed Salem Abed Rabbo al-Mashibi, Fawaz Hussein al-Mahrak and Saleh Said Mahrak. It said identification of the dead was continuing and that non-Yemeni Arab fighters were among those killed.
Yemen’s Supreme Security Committee - which includes the president, the defense and interior ministers, and the head of intelligence - said Sunday that the strikes targeted an important al-Qaida training camp that housed leading figures of the group. It gave no further details.
The security officials and local tribal leaders said Monday’s strikes killed several militants, including one they identified as a local commander, Munnaser al-Anbouri. It was unclear how many militants died. It was possible to identify him because militants delivered his body to his family, where members live in the area, the officials said.
A tribal chief from the area said there were columns of smoke and fire billowing from the hideout Sunday, adding that the militants had been seen in the past parking their vehicles in bushes in the area.
The tribal leader said he believed the fire was caused by the fuel tanks in the vehicles. In recent weeks, he said, the militants transported heavy weaponry to the area, including artillery. He and other tribal leaders spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
One of the security officials said the infrastructure for the base has been destroyed.
He said the offensive was based on intelligence and “regional and international” cooperation, suggesting that neighboring Saudi Arabia may have been involved in the planning.
In Washington, a Pentagon spokesman said he could not comment on any specific actions.
“But as you know, we have a very strong and collaborative relationship with the Yemeni government. We work closely together with them on various initiatives in the counterterrorism realm,” Army Col. Steve Warren said.
Washington ramped up its fight against Yemen’s branch of al-Qaida after a series of unsuccessful bomb plots targeting Americans, including an attempt to take down a U.S.-bound airliner with explosives hidden in a man’s underwear and a second plot to send mail bombs hidden in toner cartridges on planes headed to the U.S.
The group’s fighters overran several towns and cities in southern Yemen in 2011, taking advantage of the political chaos amid a popular uprising against then-President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was later driven from power.
A major 2012 government offensive, aided by the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, drove al-Qaida militants from southern towns.
Information for this article was contributed by Robert Burns of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 5 on 04/22/2014